The Cherokee Nation provided $3.04 billion in economic impact in fiscal 2021 and over $2 billion in COVID-21 relief impact to the region, according to a report released Monday.
“The economic importance of the Cherokee Nation to northeast Oklahoma continues to grow with the expanding economic footprint of Cherokee operations,” according to the report, produced by Russell Evans, principal of the Economic Impact Group and executive director of Economic Research and Policy Institute at Oklahoma City University.
The report is another in a series of biennial studies commissioned by the Cherokee Nation regarding its economic impact on the area.
The last report, produced for fiscal year 2018, estimated the Cherokee Nation’s annual economic impact at $2.16 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the most recent report.
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Evans told a group of about 200 people assembled at University of Tulsa’s Great Hall in the Allen Chapman Student Union to hear the report that the study likely under-represents the true level of support the tribe provides regionally.
“When we talk about the $3 billion economic impact, I just can’t emphasize enough that we know that number understates the true influence” of the Cherokee Nation in the 14 counties, Evans said.
This is the first report the tribe has released since the U.S. Supreme Court and state criminal appellate court both have acknowledged for criminal jurisdiction purposes the continued existence of reservations for six Oklahoma tribes, including the Cherokee Nation’s 14-county reservation.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the results of the study are validating, point to a “strong future” for the tribe and reflect history repeating itself.
“Because history shows that when the Cherokee people are allowed to exercise the rights endowed by their creator to govern themselves to self-identify, to chart their own course, great things happen,” Hoskin said.
The study found that the production of $3 billion in local goods and services supported 18,942 jobs and regional wage and benefits totaling $975 million in fiscal year 2021.
In 2018, the Cherokee Nation provided $836.8 million in wage and benefit support.
Hoskin said it can be difficult to wrap one’s head around a figure as big as $3 billion.
“But what really matters about that number is what it means for people, what it means in our communities, what it means for men and women who get to earn a living working for the Cherokee nation or working in one of those jobs created by our impact, and what it means for our elders who get to live better lives because of these investments that we can make,” Hoskin said.
The nation employs 11,358 directly, of which 3,000 were added in the past decade, according to Hoskin.
Regarding the nation’s $2 billion COVID-19 response, the study found that over $1 billion were payments made to individuals, including $826.9 million in direct support to citizens and $220.8 million in paycheck support to tribal workers.
The study also found that the nation had built or repaired nearly 91 miles of roads in the region and installed 17.1 miles of water lines.
“What this means is safer transportation in some of these rural communities so the school bus can get from school to home,” Hoskin said, referring to the improved roads.
Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who attended the presentation, thanked the tribe for all the work it does in the region.
“I just want to say thank you on behalf of the state of Oklahoma for what you do for the state, for who you are, and again, as far as my lieutenant governor office in our executive branch, I assure you that will continue to be a working relationship from county to county and from sovereign to state,” Pinnell said.
The report also found the nation:
Paid $27.3 million in state compacting fees.
Provided $7.4 million in Cherokee Nation vehicle tag fees to public schools in the reservation.
Spent $30 million on repairs to tribal members’ homes.
Hoskin said not all spending had an immediate, measurable impact, such as the $16 million the nation has invested in preserving its Cherokee language.
“That means something you can’t ever see reflected on a spreadsheet, but it also means jobs for more of our affluent speakers, it also means more opportunities to learn the language and use the language,” Hoskin said.
The study found the highest economic impact output among the 14 counties was in Rogers County.
“Much of the increase in Rogers County is attributed to the growth in Cherokee Nation Businesses’ federal contracting sector,” the report found.
The study found that Rogers County output impact, the total impact to local demand for goods and services produced within the county, to be $1.1 billion, ranking it No. 1 among the 14 counties in that category.
Tulsa County came in No. 2 in impact output with $887 million.
Cherokee County, where the nation’s headquarters is located, ranked No. 3 in total economic impact output at $337 million. Cherokee County ranked No. 1 in employment with 8,168 employees living there, according to the report.
“When you see this historic growth in the impact numbers…what it really should signal to you is the connections between the Cherokee Nation and the economies of northeast Oklahoma gets deeper and deeper every year,” Evans said.
The trend is positive during a time of “revolving economic instability and uncertainty,” Evans said.
“When I look at the Cherokee Nation economic impact, and I look at it through the lens of an economist, what I see are deeper connections between the tribe and the northeastern Oklahoma economy and a stabilizing force in unstable times,” Evans said.
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